Theory of chocolate tablet boudinage

Abstract

Two-dimensional boudinage in a flattening type of bulk deformation, with equal layer-parallel extensions in all directions, leads to the development of roundish or polygonal outlines of boudins in plan-view. As combined experimental and theoretical studies show, chocolate tablet boudinage with two sets of mutually perpendicular boudin axes may form in different ways. (1) Unequal layer-parallel extension in the matrix results in one set of extension fractures forming perpendicular to the greatest principal stress in the matrix. Once these long narrow boudins are formed, the greatest principal stress in the brittle layer becomes approximately parallel to the long axis of the boudin. As a result a second set of fractures forms normal to the first set. (2) In lineated rocks the anisotropy of tensile strength leads to the sequential formation of two sets of extension fractures, parallel and perpendicular to the lineation. Depending on the orientation of the lineation the boudin axes may or may not be parallel to the principal stresses in the matrix. (3) Boudins with rectangular plan-view may also form when two successive events of unidirectional boudinage are superposed on one another. Irrespective of the direction of principal extensional strain rate in the matrix, the second generation extension fractures are likely to form approximately perpendicular to the first generation boudin axes.